Lackluster Winter

The reason I haven't been blogging is that nothing has really been happening. And I'm finding that I have a winter behavior pattern evolving. Depending on the weather forecast, I either just hunker down when it gets really cold (like 12º or less) or I head out on the warmer days and get my errands done so that I can just hunker down when it gets really cold.

It's typical that we have a warm patch after the first of the year here in Wisconsin. People refer to it as the January thaw, and we've had three of them in the last two months. My hunch is it's a global warming thing. And the storms we've had so far have been small, almost bypassing us, and none have left more than two or three inches of snow. I do have a suspicion that we'll have at least one more snow storm before Spring really arrives.

After the last two winters, I have learned that an ice storm is what I really hate. It starts as regular rain during a "thaw," then the rain freezes, placing a thin layer of ice on everything. And as the ground is still well frozen, everything turns to clear (or "black") ice, and it's deadly slick. I was unprepared last year, but this year I have a 20 lb. bag of salt on the back porch, so I'm able to melt my way to the garage, if need be.

But for now, the old snow has melted after several days with highs in the 40s and 50s. We have a storm warning for tonight and tomorrow, then things dip back down into the 30s for several days, then pop back up into the 40s and 50s. (Can you tell that I'm really looking forward to Spring?) For today, though, I turn off the furnace and open the windows to get fresh air in the house after months of being closed up. And Patty, the cat, was genuinely surprised at open windows, delighted that she could sit in the windowsill again, smell the fresh air and watch the dead leaves, freed from their icy prison, skitter about the back yard and driveway.

So, nothing much has been going on. I'm still on the desk at the Center on Monday and Wednesday evenings, and I've taken over facilitating Andromeda, a biweekly "rap session" for 18+ folks on Saturday afternoons.

The Center's director of internal affairs (we also have one for outreach) has resigned, which is a real shame, as she was a very effective leader. We have a great board of directors, though, so I don't think the change in leadership is going to derail any of the Center's plans for expansion.

The Center has gotten the gig of selling beer tickets at Riverfest, which happens on the Fourth of July. This is a pretty big deal. There are three windows selling the tickets. The Knights of Columbus are staffing them during the day, and we'll be selling during the evening. Riverfest is paying our group $400 for the service, but I think the public exposure is what's really important.

A big development is my directing a reading of "The White Crow" with a theater group here in La Crosse called The Alternative Truth Project. They put on a reading about every month. Ours will be in early April. The license has been procured and the reading is scheduled next door at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at 7:30 p.m. on April 7. I just met with the folks at the fellowship and lined up everything for the use of the space.

I have an Eichmann and a Baum (the two characters in the play), so now it's just a matter of having a couple of rehearsals. One of the reasons I picked a two-character play is because you can get a lot of work done in rehearsal when you've just got two actors and the director.

The lion's share of Christmas still up (wreaths and garlands are down and stowed in the basement). Amanda and Natalie dropped by today and we put together a three-person bucket brigade to get the 21 little houses (in their boxes for a month) to the basement. We all moved the boxes to the kitchen table, then Amanda handed them off to Natalie who went up and down the stairs, handing them off to me and I put them on the shelves. We got them stowed and dragged the remaining empty Christmas storage bins and boxes upstairs, so now packing the rest of the holidays will be simple.

As proof that things have been unusually boring, I checked my phone and I haven't taken a single picture since the last entry, so no artwork, I'm afraid. But at least, now, you know how dull my life is.